Development of an Artificial Saliva Solution for Studying the Corrosion Behavior of Dental Alloys Available to Purchase

The corrosion behavior of dental alloys often is evaluated in artificial saliva solutions. In the literature, it was found that several solutions have been used, but no information indicating whether they really behave as natural saliva does, or whether they can be compared with each other, was mentioned. In the present work, the corrosion behavior of copper-aluminum dental alloys in 17 different solutions cited in the literature was evaluated and the results were compared with those obtained with natural whole saliva. It was observed that none of the solutions tested simulate—from the electrochemical point of view—the behavior of natural saliva. Taking one of the artificial saliva solutions tested as a starting point, and after analyzing the effect on the corrosion behavior of the copper-aluminum dental alloy of several ions presented in saliva, a new artificial saliva solution was developed. Four different dental alloys tested in this new artificial saliva solution showed an electrochemical behavior similar to that obtained in natural saliva.